And The Winner Of The Snapt4 Wildcard Entry Is…

Last week, surfers from around the world submitted video entries to earn the final spot in Snapt4, via the Fuser Wildcard.

Once those videos were posted, IG users were directed toward the @snapt4 account, where they could vote for the surfer that deserved a spot in the main film. We posted a few of our favorite submissions here, which included Kevin Schulz, Anothony Fillingim, Lucca Mesinas, Maxime Husscenot, etc. 

All up, over 8,000 votes were collected and hand-tallied by Snapt4’s fearless creator, Logan Dulien.

While most big-wig surf filmmakers would have had some intern counting the comments, Logan lives by the adage that if you want something done right, you should do it yourself. So he put a tiny sweatband on his thumb and started scrolling. 

Several blistered and bandaged days later, a winner was decided. 

Congratulations Kevin Cortez!

“I’m so stoked for Kev,” Logan said. “Coming from a small town in Nicaragua, he was an underdog going into the voting, but he got some serious support from pro skater Ryan Sheckler, Artist Louis Carreon, musician Gunner Gehl, and some international chef who offered a free virtual cooking class raffle to people who voted for him. Artists Louis Carreon did the same thing raffling off a piece of art worth 20k+. It was a very creative concept and definitely helped earn Kevin enough to win.

“Behind Kev was Lucca Mesinas from Peru, then Anthony Fillingham, and Jacob Szekely who was giving out T-shirts to anyone that voted for him…not to mention he had these college babes modeling the “Vote Zeke” shirts. Those four together had a big portion of the votes. The surfer that impressed me that kid Sebastian Williams from Mexico.

“Considering how much time these guys put into their edits and how well they surf, I’ve decided to make a section with the following guys together. They surfed too good to just turn away, and they may not have won the wildcard, but they will still be in Snapt4 in a section together. That’s Anthony Fillingim, Lucca Mesinas, Jacob Z, Sebastian Williams, Kevin Schultz, Leif Engstrom, Kaito Kino, Taj Lindblad, and Frances Maxime Huscenot. We’re also Planning to have a cameo by @big20hammer. This kid’s a hammer.”

Now Kevin Cortez has a year to collect clips for his official Snapt4 part, which could earn him a grand prize of $40k, or a 2nd/3rd place prize of $10k, if he beats the likes of Jack Robbo, Seth and Josh Moniz, Parker Coffin, etc., according to Mick Fanning, Bobby Martinez, and Taj Burrow, who will be judging all the film parts and declaring their favorites*. 

A tall order, especially considering the access to waves the aforementioned surfers have in relation to Kev, but anything’s possible.

Snapt4 drops summer 2021. Should we start a betting pool?

I’ve got Robbo. 

*The bonus section of the non-wildcard-winning entrants is not up for the $60k prize purse.